As noted last night, the Red Wings and kids from Jack Adams Arena in Detroit teamed up to give both kids at Children's Hospital in Detroit and the youngsters taking part in the shopping trip a happy Christmas, and DetroitRedWings.com's Josh Berenter wrote an article about the event held last night at Meijer in Madison Heights:

The age-old adage during the holiday season is it's better to give than to receive. And sometimes, selfless generosity can go a long way and pay dividends.

That was the case Thursday night for 20 metro Detroit children who teamed up with the Detroit Red Wings Foundation for the third annual Hometown Holiday Assist.

20 kids from Jack Adams Memorial Arena's introductory hockey program joined Red Wings players Mike Green, Jimmy Howard, Xavier Ouellet and Ryan Sproul, along with members of the Lady Wings organization at Meijer in Madison Heights, Mich., to purchase gifts for Children's Hospital of Michigan patients unable to go home for the holidays.

"Our entire organization cherishes the holiday season as a time for giving to others, and often to those you don't personally know," said Kevin Brown, director of community relations and Detroit Red Wings Foundation. "Hometown Holiday Assist is about so much more than providing gifts to Detroit's youth."

"It reinforces a powerful message of placing the needs of others before oneself. We know the children walked away from this event with a stronger appreciation of making someone else's holiday just as special as their own."

I sat up in the exam room at the hospital and stretched my arms, trying to get my brain to relax. It was only chest pains. Our team trainer had told me the night before that they were probably being caused by dehydration or a pulled muscle, and I told myself over and over again that he was probably right.

I was fine … right?

I mean, I played in the NHL. I was a New York Ranger. Injuries are part of the game. No matter how I was feeling inside, I was going to be cool. The nurses ran their tests, and I was sure that soon they’d be back to tell me that everything was going to be fine.

Except I couldn’t stop thinking about the blood.

The day before, I had woken up from a long nap and started coughing up blood in the sink.

When McDavid scored on a power play in the middle frame to make it 2-0, he skated towards Manning after a fist-pump celebration and the two exchanged some more words. After the game, McDavid let fly that the words he heard from Manning inferred that he’d smacked him into the boards on purpose last season....

“I did all I could defending him last year in the media. Everyone wanted to make a big deal saying he did it on purpose, and they wanted me to to say some comments today (morning) about what went on last year,” said McDavid, who shrugged it off after the morning skate as yesterday’s news.

But it was today’s news Thursday when they came together in the first period and words were coughed up.

“I thought it was one of the (most) classless things I’ve ever seen on the ice. He said some things. I guess we can put the whole if he did it on purpose thing to rest because what he said out there kind of confirmed that. Shows what kind of guy he is the way he doesn’t step up and fight some of our guys,” said McDavid, who had the power-play goal and helped set up Andrej Sekera’ shortie with some great board work in the second.

Manning was taken aback by McDavid’s not-so-friendly fire at him after the Oilers’ loss.

He firmly said last year’s violent crash with McDavid and himself was a hard play, gone wrong.

No malice intended.

“One hundred percent not. Anyone who’s seen the clip sees him catch an edge. I would never intentionally hurt someone. Anybody who knows me, knows I play a hard game, that’s the reason I’m in the NHL. I think I play an honest game,” said Manning.

• The Avs have a crushing need for two or three D-men—Erik Johnson is out about two months but a busted leg after Tyler Seguin nailed him with a shot— but goalie Semyon Varlamov at $6 million isn’t helping matters, being outplayed by backup Calvin Pickard, They could easily get a D man for Gabe Landeskog or Duchene but they’re not that deep at forward either. They’re definitely in the hunt for the No. 1 pick in the June draft.

• Sam Gagner is the best bargain in the NHL these days: He signed for $650,000 this summer in Columbus and has 10 goals. No tag-days for Gagner though. He’s made about $27 million in his career since signing at 18 with Oilers. The Hawks were sniffing around Gagner, too. Old memories die hard: they obviously remembered that eight-point game Gagner had against them.

• When somebody mentioned good-looking, clothes-horse NHL players, the talk went to Henrik Lundqvist, of course. He’s been on the cover of several mags. “He told me that during the lockout shortened season (2012-2013), he had a different suit for every game (48),” laughed Cam Talbot, his former backup in New York.

GIROUX, VORACEK HELP FLYERS EMERGE FOR SEVENTH STRAIGHT WINClaude Giroux (2-1—3) tied the game and Jakub Voracek (1-3—4) assisted on the go-ahead goal with 1:29 remaining in regulation to help Philadelphia secure its seventh consecutive victory, matching their longest win streak since an equal run from Dec. 2 – 15, 2011.

* The Flyers tied the game on two separate occasions, overcoming deficits of 2-0 and 5-3. Elias notes that Philadelphia won a game in which they erased two multi-goal deficits for the first time in franchise history.

* Down 2-0 in the second period, the Flyers scored three times in a span of 72 seconds to take the lead. Elias notes that it was the fastest trio of goals by Philadelphia since Feb. 14, 2009 when the club scored three times in a span of 67 seconds during the third period of a 5-1 win vs. NYI.

* Voracek (10-18—28) and Giroux (9-19—28) share the team lead – and fourth in the NHL – with 28 points in 29 games this season.

The Detroit Red Wings open their longest home stand of the season against the Columbus Blue Jackets this evening (7:30 PM EST on FSD Plus/FS Ohio/97.1 FM; today is the Toys For Tots toy collection night at the Joe) with a surprisingly stiff opponent.

The aforementioned 13-11-3 Red Wings are about to kick off a stretch of 5 straight games at the Joe and 7 games played over the course of 12 nights against the 15-5-and-4 Columbus Blue Jackets, one of the hottest teams in the NHL.

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